On the Way Home...

Four days of riding The Dragon, back road twisties & the mountains of the Cherohala Skyway. I left out early to get a good start. The ride home was over I-40 west to I-81 to make stops to get my last 2 HD Virginia Tour stamps.

The first stop was Christiansburg, Va then a short ride to Roanoke for the final stamp & the 17 bonus tickets.

The ride home was fast and easy. Unlike the heat of the ride down the weather was cool & comfortable. Even with taking rest/gas stops about every 100 miles I still made it home well before dark.

Over all I rode about 1700 miles.

XL Forum Dragon Run

US 129 at Deal's Gap, N.C. is called "The Tail of the Dragon". There are 318 curves in 11 miles. This year XLF Group came in from all over. I came in from Virginia. Bruce came in from West Virginia. Joe & his group came in from Michigan. Dan from Indiana, Linda from Charlotte area. Georgia & Pennsylvania were also there.

Operation New Drive Belt...

The group headed out to ride the Cherohala Skyway and see if Smokey Mountain HD has a new drive belt for Bud.

Along the way we detoured a nice back road to see Bald River Falls.

We rode down to the SMHD shirt shop and they confirmed that the main dealership had the belt in Marysville.

By the end of the day it was a 300 mile round trip.

Rested up & Ready to Ride

Today was a relaxed day riding local twisties and goofing around.

One of the riders in our group, Bud, broke a

drive belt and the nearest replacement is Smokey Mountain HD in Marysville, TN. If the Dragon wasn't blocked it would be a 45 mile ride. So the plan is to ride the Cherohala Skyway over to the HD shirt shop in Tellico Plains and have them call to see if they have it in stock.

Takin' it Easy Today

Bruce made it in just after I did. The place we're staying is right on The Dragon. Unfortunately there is absolutely no cell service of any kind. The ride in yesterday took a little out of me. I ended up riding The Dragon and some local roads to find out where my cell could get some signal.

Long Hot Ride...

12 hours of searing heat but I was able to get to Deal's Gap Motor Lodge just before 8. I would have made it sooner but it took me a while on my 2 detours to get my tour stamps.

Ready for the Dragon Run

I'm all packed up and ready to head to Deal's Gap for the 3rd time in four years. The weather is predicted to be a hot one. I'll be stopping by Lynchburg & Danville HD to get my tour stamps. Hopefully I'll make it before it gets dark.

Waugh's Big Damn Bike Show

I decided to enter Waugh's bike show today. It's one of the only bike shows that instead of paying to enter you get a $10 Waugh's gift card. So a least you can get a free oil filter later on.

There were 16 Sportys in my group. From pristine stock to a cherry '59.

I didn't place this year, the first time my sporty did not win anything. It reminded me of why I hate entering bike shows. It's not that I didn't win but the sitting around for 5+ hours waiting for the judging.

XLF Dragon Run '10

Starting to get ready for the end of the month ride to Deal's Gap N.C. to ride U.S. 129 the Dragon. We are expecting about 25 - 30 people to show up for this one. Some from as far away as Michigan.

I even designed a patch for the ride organizer for everyone that shows up.

NOVA Stamp Ride

Headed up to Whitt's HD in Manassas & Patriot HD in Fairfax today. The morning started off nice but by the time I made it to Fairfax it was a scorcher.

There were a lot of riders out today. But even with the heat it was a fun day to ride.

So far I have 13 stamps in my Virginia HD Tour book only 4 to go. The last 4 will be later this month. Lynchburg & Danville will be on the way down to the XLF Dragon Run. Christiansburg & Roanoke will be on the way back.

Rolling Thunder XXIII

Ken & I rode up to D.C. for Rolling Thunder. It was a hot day but not too bad. We didn't ride the parade route today. Our first attempt at parking on the other side of the Memorial Bridge before anyone else was there got us chased off by the cops. So we ended up on the back side of Constitution Ave. When we tried to get in to the parade route the cops made us take a side road and before you know it we are on 66 west headed out of town. So we just headed home.

But it was a great day anyway.

Day of Backroads

Spent the day riding the backroads. It was a perfect day. Riding the roads with full tree canopies really cools the air. Every now and then the sweet smell of blooming honey suckle.

Tidewater Stamp Run

400 miles, only 2 wrong turns, 3 HD Tour stamps, 1 HD helmet for $50. It was a windy ride, almost blown off the road a few times.

I go all the way down to the Outer Banks and figure I'll see a light house while I;m close by.

It didn't go as I planned...

HD Tour Stamp & some history...

Rode 250 miles today to Yorktown, Virginia to get my Hampton Roads tour stamp. While I was there I toured the Yorktown Historical Battlefield park.

New Boots...

I'm not much of a boot person. Never have been. I constantly get comments that I shouldn't wear sneakers while I ride.

But a deal came to my attention that was too good to pass up. Beleive it or not Sears has a discontinued Harley Davidson Paraspinna 8" boot for $49.95.

Normally this would be a good deal. The Harley tax on boots is pretty high. Other sites have this boot listed from $100 - $160.

What made this an irresistible was once you dropped the boots in the checkout the price dropped again to $36. If you put the code word in the discount box you got another discount that dropped the price to $29 for a total of $36 including shipping.

Even if they didn't fit I couldn't pass up this deal. To my surprise they fit great. It's going to take me a while to get used to walking in shoes that have a big sole. It reminds me a little of the boots Frankenstein had.

Richmond Run

The weather held out and I was able to get Colonial, South Richmond & North Richmond Stamps. Seven stamps down and only 10 to go...

225 miles today, 2 rain stops, 10 mile traffic back up, 4 wrong turns, 3 Virginia HD Tour stamps & a few backroad twisties.

Don "Hoss" Waugh

Perfect day for riding. New tires mounted yesterday. T-shirt swap with Kevin in Maine so I rode down to Waugh's HD to get his shirt & my HD Tour Stamp.

As usual Don "Hoss" Waugh was there to greet everyone.

Ready for new tires

I was able to find new Dunlops online for the Sporty. They should arrive in the morning so I decided to get the wheels off tonight and get the new tires mounted in the morning.

Great Day... Bad finish

Rode out to Staunton to get my HD tour stamp. Rode Skyline Drive on the way home. It was such a great ride & great day how it ended just sucked.

A piece of angle iron fell off a truck and bounce off a car right in to my path. I was able to not hit it head on but it hit the edge of my front tire and shot out and hit the car in the next lane. The debris put a nice slice in the side wall of my new front tire.

At least I didn't get wiped out...

Greatest Arby's Ever...

Riding south on Rt. 1 towards Richmond I stopped at an Arby's for lunch. This could be the fanciest Arby's on the planet.

When I went inside it was "WOW". It looks like a high end steak house.

Classical music playing, an expanded menu including rotisserie chicken, fresh veggies and a complete vegetarian menu.

The decor was cool, fireplace, high ceilings, high back chairs, condiments on each table including pepper grinders.